The present invention generally relates to a rear view mirror assembly mounted to the distal end portion of a pole or staff mounted on the fender or mirror arm of a large truck or bus and more particularly to an arrangement for tightly clamping yet turnably positioning the mirror into a desired position relative to the end portion of the pole.
Motor vehicles, and in particular larger vehicles such as buses, trucks and the like, typically mount one end of the pole to the body of the vehicle and attach a mirror element to other end of the vehicle mounting pole. This arrangement has worked well to support a mirror or the like out away from the vehicle to provide improved visibility of the blind spots of the vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,063, issued Feb. 19, 1985 to Schmidt et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, typifies a mirror mounting assembly of this type. In one aspect, Schmidt et al. discloses a mounting arrangement wherein a base member and a cover member are secured together to form an aperture into which a lower leg of the support bracket is inserted and retained. Transverse ribs in the cover member grip the support bracket as the cover member is secured to the base member. Schmidt et al. teaches that threaded fasteners be used to secure the mirror to the free end of the support bracket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,257, issued May 31, 1994 to Schmidt et al., the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a vehicle mounting assembly wherein the cover and base members are provided on the back of the mirror and captivate the end portion of the support bracket thereby to permit rotation of the mirror about a longitudinal axis.
Similarly, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,013, issued May 26, 1992 to Malcolmson, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference, there is taught a ball stud mount.
From the prior art it is apparent that the art has taught either a clamping or ball stud mount for securing the mirror head to the shaft.
It would be desirable to provide an improved mirror mount that would enable the user to tightenably adjustably secure a mirror head assembly either directly to the mounting end of the support bracket or to a ball socket type mount which is connected to the support bracket.